08 September 2007

The Getty. Zoopsia: Works by Tim Hawkinson/ Überorgan

if you're in LA, please get to The Getty. Bring sunglasses and plenty of water. And a sweater for the inside, sunscreen for the outside.

this place is a temple. on top of a hill. in the sky. water makes a trickling sound but you pinch yourself because it can't be real. all this stone, people under umbrellas. they're so smart there they made the patrons art.

Comments

i saw some fantastic art installations in the desert last week. my favorites were crude awakening (the sculptures of people worshipping the oil derrick which later erupted into flames) and big rig jig (the two oil rigs that were suspended in air). i enjoyed that we were allowed to contribute our own graffiti, as it were, to the temple, which was a beautiful piece of art in its own right.

For anyone who loves the Getty, I'd absolutely recommend an East Coast visit to Dia:Beacon and Mass MoCA. Both in repurposed industrial factory space, both with the ability to show enormous 20th and 21st Century works. And for outdoor installation, especially the work of Calder, Henry Moore, and Mark DiSuvero, there's Storm King Art Center, about an hour north of New York City.

I've only been to the Getty once, but I fell in love with it immediately--art and nature combined with humans running through both like a colored thread. Here's an outside shot from it:
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/14/13932417_dd8232cc40_m.jpg.

Two recent inspiring art shows at the Asian Art Museum of SF, one of which is closed, the other closes tomorrow. The closed one was 19th century Japanese woodblocks from Taiso Yoshitoshi. The still open (barely) show is "Tezuka: The Marvel of Manga," a collection of work from one of the pioneers of modern Manga. His drawings are expressive, daring, and imaginative. If only I could read Japanese!

When I lived in Ventura County I went to the Getty a few times. The buildings and grounds are fabulous; much of the permanent collection only so-so for me.